Fieldtrip Report:
Deep Gap Garnet,
Chunky Gal Mountain,
Clay County, N.C.,
April 16th, 2005___________________
Hello members, another great day for rockhounding has come and gone, perfect weather, nice and sunny. We had many new members attend today, fifteen in all showed up for our garnet and sapphire hunt in Clay County. We started the trip at a location near Buck Creek called Deep Gap, this site produces large red almandine garnets in a hornblende matrix, some single crystals up to 2" in diameter can be found by digging and sifting the creek gravel, you will find plenty of matrix material covering the area, our new member Annie Woods found the most single crystals, none were real big, but they were nice pieces.
I have to give Annie credit, she was on her first rockhound adventure and she came prepared, she had made this very nice heavy duty 1/2" sifting screen and it payed off for her.
Parking was a little tight but we managed, we saw a least twenty other vehicles pass through the area hunting ramps, you know, the stinky, smelly, wild onions!.
Steven, Diane and John ready for the hunt.
Members working the creek for garnets.
Jim Ellis and Chris Wells.
Annie trying out her new screen.
George, Jane and Christopher Thomas were there, Christopher found a nice facet grade large piece of garnet, I will post a pic when George sends it to me.
After a couple of hours, we ate lunch, packed our gear and headed to Chunky Gal Mountain. Chunky Gal is noted for the nice red and pink rubies and sapphires in smaragdite matrix. The top of the mountain has been dug extensively for many years and finding material can be a challenge for most, there are many places on the mountain to collect, the top has always been the hot spot for clubs etc. Today we visited another location that I know some nice material has been coming from.
Chunky Gal Mountain.
Our member Steve Barr had missed us at the garnet site, but joined us for the afternoon at the Gal.
